Posts tagged ‘Marathon Gold Corp (MOZ)’

Anaconda wants to expand production, Marathon wants new resources

At first glance the numbers seem modest enough—just under 12,000 gold ounces and $3.3 million net income for fiscal 2012. But that in itself might put Anaconda Mining TSX:ANX in an enviable position among micro-cap juniors. With an expanded land package and two active exploration areas, the company hopes to increase production in the Baie Verte peninsula of northern Newfoundland.

So it was more gold lust than fabled romance that drew Anaconda to the Romeo and Juliet prospect, about 1.5 kilometres northwest of the company’s Pine Cove open pit mine and mill. Last year the company decided that impressive, near-surface historic results called for an initial 1,000-tonne bulk sample. On April 4 Anaconda released high-grade assays from five sub-samples averaging 12,598 grams grading 5.71 grams per tonne gold. The individual numbers show:

Anaconda Mining expects about 14,000 gold ounces this year from Pine Cove but hopes to expand production in its newly enlarged land package.

6.32 g/t gold from an 11,842-gram sample

5.14 g/t from 12,774 grams

5.15 g/t from 12,299 grams

4.91 g/t from 13,061 grams

7.05 g/t from 13,018 grams.

The results follow closely on drill results released March 25 from a new Western Extension area within Pine Cove’s current pit limit. Highlights include:

1.81 g/t gold over 26.87 metres

(including 2.15 g/t over 20 metres)

(and including 1.44 g/t over 2.87 metres)

1.28 g/t over 12.7 metres

(including 2.05 g/t over 6.1 metres)

1.82 g/t over 4 metres

(including 4.47 g/t over 1 metre)

7.31 g/t over 1.03 metres

2.21 g/t over 4 metres

3.1 g/t over 0.99 metres.

True widths weren’t available. The top-most intercept started at a vertical depth of 7.83 metres, while the deepest ended at 178.59 metres from surface. The zone remains open to the northwest, which will be the focus of Phase II drilling.

“These holes were drilled within the current pit limit but the mineralization was found below the pit shell,” Anaconda president/CEO Dustin Angelo tells ResourceClips. “We have to remove that waste because you have to fan back to maintain a stable pit wall. Where we’re drilling was an area that was deemed waste, but when you drill far enough down there are areas that are gold-bearing. So we were removing waste in this area already and now we’ve found gold under it.”

As for Romeo and Juliet, “We’re going to do some more definition drilling from the surface,” Angelo says. “But I think we’ll have to do some underground exploration to better define it and help with the mine plan.”

With a mill less than two klicks away, the star-crossed lovers might have a promising future. But “we have to do metallurgical tests to see how we would process that material,” Angelo explains. “Various parts of our circuit have different levels of capacity right now. There’s a potential that there’s plenty of mill capacity but if we have to put it through our ball mill and flotation circuit as well, there’s probably less. But what we could do is blend the feed stock so instead of doing a thousand tonnes a day right now from the pit, we could do 900 from the pit and 100 of this, and blend the head grade.”

The property is a 50/50 joint venture with New Jersey Mining acting as project operator. The mine has over 3,900 metres of underground workings and the permits necessary to drill and operate on the deposit. The property includes 24 patented mining claims and 70 unpatented mining claims covering 515 hectares. The patented claims that cover the mine workings have mineral and surface rights.

Marathon President/CEO Phillip Walford stated, “We had great success with this year’s drilling program at the Golden Chest Mine and we are pleased to be concluding this program on such a strong note. These final results reveal the presence of a new high-grade gold shoot and the extension of a longer interval that was discovered in May in the Katie and Dora area. Additionally, these concluding results demonstrate that there is the potential to increase the current open-pit resource. As the company’s focus is to generate value through resource expansion, the current resource estimate is being revised based on this year’s drilling results and is expected to be released in the fourth quarter of this year.”

Valentine Lake is a 50/50 joint venture with Marathon acting as project operator. Marathon President/CEO Phillip Walford said, “The Leprechaun Gold Deposit has continued to expand with our highly successful winter 2012 drilling program. The intersection of new, wide intervals of Main Zone-style mineralization in the J. Frank Zone confirms the continuity of the gold system operating along the highly prospective thrust fault, which extends for over 25 kilometres within the Valentine Lake property. Summer drilling has resumed and with three drills turning, steady news flow is expected.”

Marathon President Phillip Walford commented, “Drilling at the Golden Chest Mine continues to be successful in expanding the resource potential. The open pit holes are infill and in an area of inferred resource, and the underground targeted holes are expanding the strike length of the Idaho vein system in an area not previously drilled. These are very good results for the 2012 program and with extensive drilling to follow, we anticipate consistent encouraging results.” The Golden Chest Mine is owned 50% by New Jersey Mining Corporation and 50% by Marathon Gold Corporation. NJMC is the operator.

The Valentine Lake Project, including the Leprechaun Gold Deposit, is a 50/50 joint venture with Marathon acting as project operator. Marathon President/CEO Phillip Walford remarked, “Building upon the previously announced drill results, these exciting new gold intercepts further confirm both the continuity of the gold system and the ongoing expansion of the Leprechaun Gold Deposit. As this year’s stepout drilling program progresses it is becoming increasingly clear that this is a sizeable deposit with more high-grade zones to be found.”

The property is a 50/50 joint venture with Marathon as the project operator. Marathon President/CEO Phillip Walford said, “The intersection of this new high-grade gold mineralization is very encouraging because it reveals that the current resource is expanding down-dip to the southwest.”

Marathon President/CEO Phillip Walford said, “These drill holes are encouraging as they demonstrate that there is expanded open pit potential at the Golden Chest Mine. With two drills currently turning, we anticipate that this year’s 20,000-metre drill program will further define the full potential of the deposit.” The Golden Chest Mine is owned 50% by New Jersey Mining Corporation and 50% by Marathon Gold Corporation. NJMC is the operator.

Each company holds a 50% interest in the project, with New Jersey Mining acting as project operator.

Marathon President/CEO Phillip Walford stated, “Since the commencement of this 10,000-metre drilling program, we have had consistent encouraging results at Golden Chest. These intercepts suggest that the open-pit potential extends beyond the historic open-pit resource. We anticipate the release of an NI 43-101-compliant resource estimate in Q1 2012 and in an effort to continue developing and expanding this deposit, Golden Chest will be undergoing an aggressive 25,000-metre drilling program in 2012. We have seen significant advancements at Golden Chest in 2011 and we anticipate further important advancements with the large 2012 drilling program.”

The property is a 50/50 joint venture with Marathon acting as project operator. Marathon President/CEO Phillip Walford commented, “Our exploration initiatives have proven advantageous for Marathon. As we approach the end of our 2011 drill program, we continue to discover wide intervals of high-grade mineralization as well as significant hanging-wall and foot-wall mineralization. These new high-grade gold intercepts will have a positive impact on the new Leprechaun Gold Deposit resource which is on track for release in the fourth quarter of 2011.”

Each company owns 50% of the Golden Chest Mine, with New Jersey Mining acting as project operator. Marathon President/CEO Phillip Walford commented, “Thus far the core drilling efforts at Golden Chest have proven to be very rewarding for Marathon since these intercepts are even better than expected, in both grade and thickness, than previous widely spaced reverse-circulation and diamond-drill holes. Drilling to date and geological work this year has demonstrated that the open-pit potential goes beyond the limits of the historic open-pit resource. Subsequently we expect to undertake another drill program next year to define the full open-pit potential. The new NI 43-101-compliant resource, expected in the first quarter of 2012, is the first step in expanding the Golden Chest deposit.”